Manufacture of track structures for railways and the like.



R. A. HADFIELD. MANUFACTURE OF TRACK STRUCTURES FOR RAiLwAYs AND THELIKE.

APPLICATION FILED 0011.2, 19 07. RENEWED SEPT. 27 1912. 1 1,058,967,Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

WITNESSES:

UNITED sTAfifiENT- OFFICE;

nonnn'r ABBOTT HADFIELD, or SHEFFIELD, ENGLAN MANUFACTURE OF TRACKSTRUCTURES TOR RAILWAYS AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Apr. 15,1913.

Application filed October 2, 1907, Serial No. 395,65}. Renewed September27, 1912. Seria1-No;'722,763.

structures, including points and crossings and other articles, ofmaterial which has much greater durability and safety than the trackstructures now commonly employed and usually made as built-up work fromordi nary carbon steel rails Y According thereto, track structures arebuilt up from suitably'shaped pieces "of for ed manganese steel,preferably of the kin known as Hadfields Era manganese steel, (made byHadfields SteelFoundry Company Limited of Sheffield). The requiredpieces of manganese steel may be of the desired track structure,subjecting the said parts to a toughening process, grinding the ends orother portions of the said parts where necessary, into the complete andfinished shapes either after or before the toughening process, punchingthe necessary holes for bolts, or other fastening means or' attachments,and finally assembling and bolting or otherwise securing the severalparts together to form the desired track structure.

My invention is shown in the drawing herewith, in which 1 indicates afrog and 2 2 the two rails of a switch operated by a' swiitch of anyusual construction as indicated at 4 4 are the ties and at 5 areindicated in dotted lines the rails of usual construction.

The invention may conveniently be carried into practice as follows :I.first "cast ingots of Hadfields Era manganese steel,

preferably in the manner described in the specification of formerLetters Patent grant-,-

.poses and it has for objectto produce track,

produced by casting such steel into ingots,-

the shrinkage heads or risers of the'ingots being preferably fed inthemanner described in the specification of my pending applica- 3 tion forLetters Patent Serial No, 316,451, filed May 12, 1906; The ingots arethen, if deslred, removed while hot, by which term I mean at anysuitable temperature which does not'allow the ingot'to cool down to adangerous point at which they may break through contraction. Or, if theingots are allowed to go cold, I carefullv reheat them by first heatingthem very slowly, so that the expansion which takes place will not breakthem. This is' important as manganese steel is a very bad conductor'ofheat, and in this case 1t is necessary to carry out the heating verygradually, until thetem perature of the ingots has reached. about a dullred. The ;1ngots are then further heated, it may be more quickly up to atemperature of from about 850 C. to 1000 C. (eight-hundred and fiftydegrees to one thousand degrees centigrade), varying according to thesize and -nature of the ingot. They are then forged into billets whichare reheated, say

.to about the temperature just mentioned,

and rolled into rails or other shapes, of suit able lengths. Ortheingots may be rolled direct, into rails or other shapes of' suitablelength, that is to say without the intervention of previous billeting.It is necessary to use great care to see that the ingots are uniformlyheated or they cannot be'satisfactorily rolled. The reduction of theingot into rails'or shapes should take placemore gradually than ordinarysteel ingots. The rails or other shapes when rolled into suitablelengths, are preferably cut hot into the desired lengths. In some caseswhere an oblique section is required, the rails or shapes can besawed-to such section while hot. In other cases the rails'are ready forv the further necessary treatment, which can, if desired, be effectedwhile they are still in the heated condition, or, if they are allowed tocool, after being reheated, and which treatment consists in sub ect1ngthe ends or other parts of such rails to a forging, pressing, or othersqueezing-treatment wherebythey are caused to assume approximately thefinished shape desired for the production of lot the various taper orother sections and configurations necessary for the production of therequired point crossing or" other track structure. The parts thusproduced are preferably then subjected to the required tougheningprocess such as described in my said former specifications, after whichthe ends or other portion of the parts are ground into the complete andfinished shape in quired and an elongation of whichit is necessary toprepare them. The toughening process may be carried out after thisfinishing process, but usually I prefer to first toughen the parts.Holes of the reshape for bolts and fish-plates or other fastenings orattachments are punched in the parts. The whole of the parts to form therequired track structure are then -My special track work is far superiorto ordlnary steel castings, or even cast manganese "steel, because thearticles are practically quite sound'and free from flaws. The whole ofthe material is thusv produced of the best stel, having a high tenacityof say about 50 to 60 (fifty to sixty) tons per square inch,

forty five percent.) the material being nevertheless so hard that itcannot be drilled or machined. The section tested was about 1000 (1,,forging to 45% (thirty to 1 eight inches long. There is thus obtainedforged track work having exceptional durability and safety.

at I claim is 1. The herein described process of pro ducing structuresfrom manganese steel, which consists in casting the steel into ingots,reheating the ingots very gradually and uniformly to about a dull redheat if the ingots have cooled, then heating the ingot uniformly to fromabout 850 C. to about 1000 C., then gradually rolling into the shape ofrails.

2. The herein described process of producing structures from manganesesteel, which consists in casting the steel into ingots, maintaining theingots hot or reheat- .ing to about a dull red heat very slowly anduniformly,.then reheating the entire ingot uniformly to from about 850C. t-oabout into billets, then gradually rolling into. rails.

Signed at 28 Hertford street, Mayfair, London, England this twenty ninthday of An ler, 1907.

ROBERT ABBOTT 'HADFIELD.

Witnesses:

JOHN IVM. CROWLEY, JOHN H. HALLATT.

